Mathematics, reading skills in unprecedented decline in teenagers

[Marc Spector]

I see a variation of this thread about once a month. If all the kids dumb, then maybe the teachers are too dumb to teach them.

In my mind, its not even a issue of intelligence per se. The issue is school is a production based business and like all production based businesses, the priority shifted to bottom line metrics vs. delivering a efficient product (at least in the States). If the system is inherently flawed at that level, it makes sense that the teachers the system is producing aren't delivering efficient results.

Factor that in with the fact that compulsory schooling was never intended to provide the best schooling. Its largely a mechanism to ensure the proletariat can work production based jobs without worry of child care. Wonder what happens when the average worker is experiencing ennui and apathy about their place in the world?

Overall, America has never addressed the context of our education system and its coming back to bite us.

 

[Hagendas]

The culture of Anti-Intellectualism needs to be talked about more

You see it regularly on this forum

 

[Cakebatter]

In public school my child got all A's in math, but still tested below her grade level on state assessment tests. It was because the teachers weren't teaching grade appropriate math, but teaching down to the worst students. I assume this is more common than just my personal experience.

 

[staticshock]

From working around kids…The future is real spooky in America.

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Breh what in the entire fukk is wrong with yall. They literally started the article citing the pandemic and yall are in here talking bout "kids are idiots, bad parents", etc.


How you gon judge them when YOU didn't even take the time to read?!

I don’t think posters in here realize how many resources have been getting stripped away from teachers and schools over the years and the long term repercussions of it.

Teachers can’t even teach these days without pushback from leaders or even some parents.

 

[Ayo]

In my mind, its not even a issue of intelligence per se. The issue is school is a production based business and like all production based businesses, the priority shifted to bottom line metrics vs. delivering a efficient product (at least in the States). If the system is inherently flawed at that level, it makes sense that the teachers the system is producing aren't delivering efficient results.

Factor that in with the fact that compulsory schooling was never intended to provide the best schooling. Its largely a mechanism to ensure the proletariat can work production based jobs without worry of child care. Wonder what happens when the average worker is experiencing ennui and apathy about their place in the world?

Overall, America has never addressed the context of our education system and its coming back to bite us.

Think about how much things have evolved in the last 150 years. 'Modern' schooling hasn't changed since the end of the industrial revolution. Which make sense because it was built with what was learned during the industrial revolution and to prepare workers for jobs in 'industry'.

They standardized everything in order to produce disciplined and punctual kids who could do math and write a coherent letter in cursive.

The education system needs to be changed. Dramatically. I whole heartedly believe in vocational education that's competency based education and micro credentials. The highly motivated student with resources are going to do well regardless of where they are educated. Middling students have a chance to make a decent life for themselves. And the kids with no role models resources or motivation are fukkED.

I say if kids want to be a TikTok influencer lets show them what goes into producing content. Expose them to all of the parts of that industry. Let's teach them how to think ,do math, write, around the skills needed to do that work. Let's localize our standards to make it relevant to what they are interested in.

 

[Ayo]

From working around kids…The future is real spooky in America.

Before I got into my current field I taught high school for a handful of years. It was programming. I had the nerdy kids. This was over a decade ago.

Even back then I could see that my kids were starting to become uncomfortable with grey areas.

They wanted questions with definitive Yes or No answers. Or any other questions types with absolute answers. It was really hard to get them to think critically. Or even explain how they arrived at an answer. Anything that required more than a minute or two of thought and they gave up. Any project/assignment instructions that had nuance in it (for creative freedom and/or inference) they struggled with.

At the time I interpreted it as the effect of growing up with Google. I stand by that. I can't even imagine what it's like now.

 

[2 Up 2 Down]

I can understand math and science but reading is absolutely essential and 100% of the blame is on the parents if the child can't read.

 

[Forsaken]

I'd like to see the raw data. How are the 700k students chosen.

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

The culture of Anti-Intellectualism needs to be talked about more

But that’s not entertaining

 

[Godless Socialist CEO]

https://www.reuters.com/world/mathematics-reading-skills-unprecedented-decline-teenagers-oecd-survey-2023-12-05/

Mathematics, reading skills in unprecedented decline in teenagers​

By Leigh Thomas

December 5, 20236:09 AM ESTUpdated 4 hours ago

Schoolchildren work in a classroom on the first day of the new school year after summer break in Savenay, France, September 4, 2023. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/files Acquire Licensing Rights

• Summary
• Nearly 700,000 15-year-olds tested in 81 countries
• 1 out of 4 were low performers in maths, reading and science
• Singapore's students earned top marks in all subjects

PARIS, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Teenagers' mathematics and reading skills are in an unprecedented decline across dozens of countries and COVID school closures are only partly to be blamed, the OECD said on Tuesday in its latest survey of global learning standards.

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said it had seen some of the steepest drops in performance since 2000 when it began its usually triennial tests of 15-year-olds reading, maths and science skills.

Nearly 700,000 youths took the two-hour test last year in the OECD's 38 mostly developed country members and 44-non members for the latest study, closely watched by policymakers as the largest international comparison of education performance.

Compared to when the tests were last conducted in 2018, reading performance fell by 10 points on average in OECD countries, and by 15 points in mathematics, a loss equivalent to three-quarters of a year's worth of learning.

Reuters Graphics

While more than half of the 81 countries surveyed saw declines, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland saw particularly sharp drops in mathematics scores, the OECD said.

On average across the OECD, one out of four 15-year-olds tested as a low performer in maths, reading and science, which means they could not use basic algorithms or interpret simple texts, the study found.

"COVID probably played some role but I would not overrate it," OECD director of education Andreas Schleicher told a news conference.

"There are underlying structural factors and they are much more likely to be permanent features of our education systems that policymakers should really take seriously."

Countries that provided extra teacher support during COVID school closures scored better and results were generally better in places where easy teacher access for special help was high.

Poorer results tended to be associated with higher rates of mobile phone use for leisure and where schools reported teacher shortages.

The OECD said the decline was not inevitable, pointing to Singapore, where students scored the highest in maths, reading and science, with results that suggested they were on average three to five years ahead of their OECD peers.

After Singapore, Macau, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea also outperformed in maths and science, where Estonia and Canada also scored well.

In reading, Ireland, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan earned top marks, and was all the more notable in Ireland and Japan because their spending per student was no higher than the OECD average.

Reporting by Leigh Thomas Editing by Bernadette Baum

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

No shyt it’s by fukking design

 

[FTBS]

What about memory?

Orientation? Cats can't even fond the street behind them without google MAP.

IT'S OVER

Interrestingly enough, reading and writing made memory less of a necessity.

But you look at what was necessary for survival hundreds or thousands of years ago and its a completely different ballgame now. Change is the only constant.

 

[Spiider]

I know this might sound wild but let me cook...

Could reading and writing and othet basic skills go the way of hunting, farming, building etc? People used to have to kill/raise their own food or they would die. Now most folks cant do that shyt and wouldnt want to. Used to have to build your own shelter...now you dont even have to find it on your own. Could we one day live in a world where you dont have to read or do equations due to technology? We got audiobooks and calculators are everywhere now. Imagine what we will have in 50 years.

Now I am not necessarily saying this is a good thing

If you can’t read or do basic math then it’s impossible for you to survive in society

 

[FTBS]

If you can’t read or do basic math then it’s impossible for you to survive in society

Thats not true at all breh. And if it was that case, the same coulda been said for the stuff I listed in my post in the past.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Reuters Graphics

Look at that timeline. What started impacting children and teenagers right around that time?

Poorer results tended to be associated with higher rates of mobile phone use for leisure

No shyt, eh?

I'm telling you, social media and phones. Too addicting, they don't care about anything else.

Should’ve never bought these kids smartphones and tablets and let them raise the kids.

Yep yep.